Arif Miyan Ki Rasoi: An Awadhi Affair at JW Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi

K3, the all-day multicuisine restaurant at JW Marriott, New Delhi, is known as a food theatre with multiple cuisines on display such as North Indian, Cantonese and Italian. It is a big and spacious restaurant with various counters, each serving something different like cold cuts, varieties of cheese, tandoor dishes, pizzas and many more. K3 has a separate dessert counter too for all food lovers with a sweet tooth and a crêpes station.

Amidst these stations is a small but noticeable counter of Chef Arif named "Arif Miyan Ki Rasoi". Aptly named, the rasoi serves rich delicacies from the Mughal, Nawabi and Nizami is a part of a Food Festival, which launched on 28th August and will go on till 6th September.

Arif Miyan Ki Rasoi

Chef Arif, popularly known as Arif Miyan, has an inspiring life story. Chef Girish, Executive Chef of K3, told me about how Chef Arif used to be a streetside chef in Hyderabad and from there how he has grown to this level. It seems Chef Arif knows the art of bringing out the actual flavor of meat in his dishes and is not being overly reliant on spices, oil and herbs.

Chef Arif

Invited for a review, I started off with their Keema and Gosht Nihari with some Sheermal, an Awadhi sweetish bread made of maida. Most of the Awadhi dishes have an onion base with very less tomato and spices and cooked slowly in a dum pukht style. Dum pukht style of cooking is extremely popular in India, where the vegetables and meat are cooked on a slow heat for a long time in a sealed utensil to get the flavor out of the meat.

Keema prepared here has a very distinctive taste and is cooked with caramelized onion and tomatoes. It is delicious with the aroma of the meat tingling the tastebuds. Sheermal is a small perfectly round bread with a hint of sweetness mostly used in Lucknowi cuisine. It is the perfect companion for both the gravy dishes. The Gosht(Lamb) Nihari which is dum pukht stew along with the bone marrow was quite different from the Nihari we get in Delhi. The meat came off the bone with little or no effort and the subtle flavors were packed right in the meat and the stew.

Keema, Ghost Nihari and Shreemal | Foodaholix

Keema (left), Ghost Nihari(right), Shreemaal(top)

Next I tried the Chicken Stew, which had similar spice levels as the Keema and Nihari. Chef Arif knows how to work with meat dishes and bring out the subtlety of its flavors. The chicken has a very different taste than of the Keema and Nihari but was enjoyable nonetheless.

Chicken Stew

I took off to a different counter to taste Chef Arif’s Murgh Tikka Biryani. Biryani has evolved a lot from its early Persian days, and a lot of regions have their own style of preparing a biryani. Here Chef Arif uses an achaari flavor to add a twist to the perfectly cooked rice. The biryani is simply divine and as you bite into the Murg Tikka, hiding under the bed of rice, you will be taken to whole new level and will not be able to stop yourself from polishing off the plate.

Murgh Tikka Biryani

It was time for dessert and we were offered the Seviyaan Muzaffar as one of the rasoi's special preparations. Muzaffar is the flavor which comes when we use saffron and lots of nuts to slowly cook the main ingredients of the dessert. The dessert was to die for, with mild sweetness and lots of nuts and khoya for garnishing it ends the dinner on a very high note and adds a smile of satisfaction on your face.

Seviyaan Muzzafar

I would definitely recommend all the meat lovers not to miss Chef Arif Miyan ki Rasoi. Although the price is a little on the expensive side, you can additionally try out dishes from the entire range of cuisines K3 has to offer along with the Awadhi delights that Arif Miyan Ki Rasoi provides. Also the menu changes and the rasoi offers new dishes each day. It is available as a dinner buffet from 28th August to 6th September, with timings from 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM.

Address:
K3,
JW Marriott,
Near AeroCity, New Delhi

Price for buffet: INR 2350++

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